{"id":11195,"date":"2025-05-27T14:58:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=11195"},"modified":"2025-05-27T14:58:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T13:58:55","slug":"see-check-condemns-informers-attack-on-freedom-of-speech-and-the-safety-of-point-participants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/27\/see-check-condemns-informers-attack-on-freedom-of-speech-and-the-safety-of-point-participants\/","title":{"rendered":"See Check Condemns Informer\u2019s Attack on Freedom of Speech and the Safety of Point Participants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We strongly condemn the disinformation based attack on freedom of speech, as well as the safety of POINT participants, that occurred on Serbian tabloid Informer on Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, May 23, Dragan Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107, the editor-in-chief of Serbian tabloid Informer, made a series of inaccurate claims about the POINT conference, which is being held on May 29 and 30 in Sarajevo, with open targeting of participants coming from Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SEE Check network strongly condemns this vile attack on freedom of speech, safety of POINT participants, as well as the reputation, integrity and lawful operation of the citizen association \u201cWhy not\u201d, the organizer of the POINT conference and a member of the SEE Check network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below we present the press release<\/a> published by the Citizens’ Association “Why Not”, together with denials to the incorrect claims made in public:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In the show \u201cKolegijum\u201d on TV Informer, and in an article published on this portal under the title \u201cWe reveal the infernal plan of the blockaders! Operation \u2018Black Box\u2019 to paralyze Serbia \u2013 this is the key date (VIDEO)\u201c, Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107 listed the names of some of the participants of the POINT conference from Serbia (Nikola Risti\u0107, Filip Ejdus, Ivan \u0110uri\u0107, Nikola Burazer and Andrijana Risti\u0107), with a series of insults and unfounded accusations against them and Davud Delime\u0111ac, a student activist, who was also invited to speak on a panel about student protests in Serbia.\u00a0

Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107 incorrectly stated that POINT is an \u201cextremist training\u201d and an event dedicated to the \u201coverthrow of the government\u201d and \u201cradicalization of the situation\u201d in Serbia, also implying that the name POINT \u2013 short for \u201cPolitical responsibility and new technologies\u201d \u2013 was coined by the above-mentioned persons in order to cover up that the alleged training is a real reason they are coming to Sarajevo.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such allegations are untrue, unfounded and represent a serious attack on the reputation, integrity and lawful operation of the citizen association \u201cWhy not\u201d, the organizer of the POINT conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POINT is not a \u201ctraining\u201d, but a conference that we have been organizing in Sarajevo for the past 13 years, in cooperation with the ACTION SEE and SEE Check networks and many other regional and international partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who were targeted in Informer\u2019s show and article are not attending any kind of \u201ctraining\u201d, but participating in the thirteenth edition of the POINT conference, being held in Sarajevo this week, as can be seen in the conference program. The program is available on the official website of the conference, just like it was on each previous year. Their participation at the conference has nothing to do with \u201cextremism\u201d or \u201ctraining to overthrow the government\u201d, but with participation in panels whose topics, as well as all other information about the POINT conference, are publicly available on the conference website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to the statements of Informer\u2019s owner and editor-in-chief, POINT is, clearly, not \u201call about Serbia\u201d, does not deal with \u201ctraining for the overthrow of the Serbian government\u201d, nor does any \u201cextremist training\u201d take place here. These claims are not only nonsensical, but also openly inciting, especially in the context in which they were presented in Informer\u2019s show, where antagonizing and degrading terms such as \u201cextremists\u201d, \u201cWahhabis in civilian clothes\u201d, \u201can idiot running to batter women, going to this special training\u201d, \u201cSuljo Ugljanin\u2019s deck boy\u201d and similar were used to target conference participants and student activist Davud Delime\u0111ac. In the TV show, there were also calls for the Serbian Security Information Agency (BIA) to take them to a \u201cdark basement\u201d upon their return to Serbia, where they would \u201cfall down the dark stairs\u201d. This is the context in which other claims, such as that of \u201cPOINT training\u201d being probably carried out by \u201cforeign services\u201d were made, which also poses a reputational damage for U.G. \u201cZa\u0161to ne\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POINT is an acronym for \u201cPoliti\u010dka odgovornost i nove tehnologije\u201d (Political accountability and new technologies), since those are the topics that the conference deals with. This title has been in use since the conference\u2019s first edition back in 2012 and it has nothing to do with current events in Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holding conferences, having public debates, panels and discussions is part of freedom of speech and expression, which is guaranteed and protected by a number of international conventions. Bringing our activities into the context of \u201cextremism\u201d on Informer is a gross attack on freedom of expression and an attack on the reputation of both our organization and that of our partners who support the POINT conference. It misleads the public and creates a risk of endangering the safety of our members and associates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disinformation, incitement and hate speech on Informer television and online portal contributed to creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity for the participants of the POINT conference, both those who were targeted by unfounded accusations, and for all other participants of the event who were unjustifiably linked to extremism and the activities of \u201cforeign services\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have asked Informer to publish a rebuttal of misinformation about POINT in the same or equally visible format in which it was published, a correction of incorrect statements, and to issue a public apology for the damage caused. In case of non-compliance with the request, we will initiate appropriate legal actions in order to protect the reputation and interests of UG \u201cZa\u0161to ne\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We strongly condemn the disinformation based attack on freedom of speech, as well as the safety of POINT participants, that occurred on Serbian tabloid Informer on Friday. On Friday, May 23, Dragan Vu\u010di\u0107evi\u0107, the editor-in-chief of Serbian tabloid Informer, made a series of inaccurate claims about the POINT conference, which is being held on May […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[317],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11197,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11195\/revisions\/11197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}